Gorilla Tag clones run rampant on Meta Quest's App Lab
The App Lab is teeming with Gorilla Tag clones, and some of them have a bigger audience than quality titles in the Quest Store.
Right now, Gorilla Tag is one of the biggest – and strangest! – phenomena in the burgeoning VR culture. More than five million people are said to have played the game, which doesn't shine with graphics or particularly complex gameplay, but seems to have struck a chord with kids and teenagers. With nearly 76,000 store ratings, the VR game has even surpassed Beat Saber (48,000 ratings).
While taking a closer look at app ratings in the Quest Store for a recent article, I also took a look at the App Lab, Meta's uncurated store for unfinished and experimental VR apps. And made an odd discovery: the App Lab is crawling with Gorilla Tag clones trying to emulate the original in hopes of grabbing a piece of its success.
Dungeon Tag, The Monke Trials, Monke Friends, Chimp Chase, Gorilla Parkour, Gorilla Taggers, Gorilla Runners, Cebus, Kong, Monke Buddys, Monkey See Monkey Doo Doo, just to name a few that have appeared on the App Lab since the beginning of the year. And many more released before.
Gorilla Tag finds plenty imitators
Some of these clones also received more app ratings than full-blown premium titles that have made it into the official Quest Store - although it's worth adding for perspective that the gorilla-tag clones are usually free.
In the Meta Quest Store, there is only one premium title launched in 2023 that has received more than 1,000 ratings, and three other premium titles launched in 2023 that have received between 500 and 999 ratings so far. Looking at the Gorilla Tag clones in the App Lab, the picture is as follows: Cebus has more than 500 ratings, Gorilla Taggers and Kong around 700 ratings, Gorilla Runners as well as Monkey See Monkey Doo Doo around 1,300 ratings (this list is not complete).
The latter VR game goes its own way in terms of style and gameplay mechanics and looks like a good candidate for the Quest Store. The studio seems to be following a more promising concept: it certainly rides the Monke wave, but it brings enough of its own qualities to stand on its own as a VR game.
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